Dynamic Maps for Bodies of Water

ABSTRACT

Methods and system for creating dynamic maps are disclosed. A system for map creation for bodies of water may comprise an application server associated with a plurality of navigation devices, wherein the application server is configured to: (a) receive data from said plurality of navigation devices, the data including water-site information, time, and location: (b) perform statistical analysis on the data received by said plurality of devices; (c) determine the existence of bodies of water based at least on the statistical analysis; and (d) generate a dynamic map including one or more of the water depth charts and heat maps based at least on the statistical analysis.

The present application claims priority to U.S. application 62/140,230,filed Mar. 30, 2015, the entirety of which is incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

Current water based maps are static and often out dated. Hardcopy mapsof bodies of water may indicate water boundaries and depths that are notrepresentative of the changing conditions of the waterway. These andother shortcomings of the prior art are addressed by the presentdisclosure.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for generatingmaps of bodies of water. In certain aspects, the system and methods usescrowd-sourced data to create waterway depth charts, heat maps of wateror activity conditions, heat maps of wildlife, including non-native orinvasive species of animals, and amenities on or near bodies of water.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following detailed description is better understood when read inconjunction with the appended drawings. For the purposes ofillustration, examples are shown in the drawings; however, the subjectmatter is not limited to the specific elements and instrumentalitiesdisclosed. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary water-site in accordance with aspects ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example model in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example method in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example method in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary computing device in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure provides a system and method for creation of abody of water map. In certain embodiments, a system may comprise of aplurality of navigation devices and an application server to receivefrom the plurality of navigation devices time series of location andvalue points. From this information, water maps may be generated basedon the time series of location and value points. A body of water may bea lake, a river, an ocean, a swamp, a pond, or any other navigable ornon-navigable body of water. In certain embodiments, a method maycomprise: receiving location and value points from plurality ofnavigation devices, along with respective time stamps indicating thetime of recordation of each of the location and value points;identifying body of water features according to the location and valuepoints and respective time stamps; and creating a body of water mapbased on the location and value points and respective time stamps; thebody of water map comprised of depth, hazards, water conditions,water-side amenities, wildlife locations, invasive wildlife locations,traffic conditions.

The disclosure provides a system and method for direct advertising bymerchants to boaters on or near a body of water. The method comprisingreceiving location and time points for boaters on or near a body ofwater and displaying this information to merchants. The methodcomprising of merchants creating a “Blast” notification that is receivedby boaters on or near a body of water on the boater's navigation device.

FIG. 1 shows a body of water or water-site 10 such as, for example, alake, a river, an ocean, a swamp, a pond, or any other navigable ornon-navigable body of water. Various marine vehicles 12, such as boats,may operate at or near different locations of the water-site 10. Users14 may operate such marine vehicles. Additionally, or alternatively, theusers 14 may navigate on or near the water-site 10 using other motivemeans such as walking, driving, biking, swimming, kayaking, etc.

The users 14 may use sensors 16 a video camera, infrared sensor, thermalsensor, audio recorder, RADAR sensor, SONAR sensor, LIDAR sensor,optical sensor, wave sensor, ultrasonic sensor, pH sensor, oxygensensor, chemical sensor or the like to capture information relating tothe water-site 10. As an example, the sensors 16 may be disposed on themarine vehicle 12. Additionally, or alternatively, the sensors 16 may beconfigured to capture information relating to the water-site 10independent of one or more of the users 14 and the marine vehicles 12.The information captured via the sensors 16 may be transmitted to aprocessor such as the central station 18 by way of wirelesscommunication (such as the communication channels defined herein).

Reference is now made to FIG. 2, which is a schematic illustration of asystem 100. The system 100 may include a plurality of navigation devices110. Each of the navigation devices 110 may be configured to communicatewith a mapping service which may be provided by the system 100. Thenavigation devices 110 may include, for example, mobile phones, personaldata assistants (PDA), personal navigation devices (PND), GPS devices,mobile computers, boat computers or any suitable device capable toreceive and manipulate and/or operate navigation software and/or devicecapable of identifying its own location and time and either store orsend the location, and any sensor which may sense and record itslocation and time. In certain aspect, the navigation devices 110 may beor comprise one or more of the sensors 16 (FIG. 1). The plurality ofnavigation devices 110 with connectivity capability may be incommunication with an application server 120 (e.g., central station 18(FIG. 1)), for example, by cellular network or wireless network orsatellite network or any other mobile communication means.

The application server 120 may receive from one or more of thenavigation devices 110, for example, periodically, momentary locationsof the navigation devices 110. The application server 120 may collectand/or record a time series of locations received from navigationdevices 110 along with time stamps indicating the time at which eachlocation was recorded. The navigation devices 110 may collect userinputted pins representing, for example, water hazards, stumps, waterdepth water conditions, weather conditions, wildlife activity, invasivewildlife sightings, fishing activity, boating traffic activity, andwater side amenities such as, for example, boat ramps, boat docks,parks, bath rooms, gas stations, restaurants, bars and/or otherbusinesses The navigation devices 110 may collect user input via textinput 113, voice input 112 or touch screen input 111.

The application server 120 may receive from one or more navigationdevices 110, for example, time and location stamps associated withrespective navigation devices 110. As an example, the time stamps andlocation stamps may be processed to generate virtual markers (e.g.,pins). Such markers may be displayed on a dynamic map. The markers mayalso be associated with data such as water information including, forexample, water depth, wave height, tidal information, water temperature,water clarity, water current and water chemistry.

The application server 120 may be configured to process data toperform-analysis on data received by plurality of navigation devices 110to create dynamic models of water depth, depth change, environmentalfeatures and wildlife activity. Environmental features may includesubmerged sand bars, shallow or un-navigable water, channels, hazardousareas, underwater hazard areas, diving areas, choppy water, “crowded”areas where many boaters can be found. Wildlife activity may includefish and animal schooling, fish spawning, bird and animal migrations,invasive wildlife intrusion and animal locations.

It is understood that water depth changes regularly in bodies of water.In the present systems and methods, water depth pins have a time stampassociated with them. The application server 120 can compare the valueof newly inputted water depth pins to the value of older water depthpins at the same geolocation, and subsequently adjust the water heightfor an entire body of water. Bodies of water such as reservoirs mayprovide lake height information in the form of feet above or below poolstage, for example. Water depth pins can be associated with thepublished lake height data and adjusted accordingly as new lake heightdata is published. The displayed lake depth charts are changed toaccount for adjustments in published lake height data.

On bodies of water where tide data is available, the tide value isassociated with the depth pin. When the tide value changes, the depthassociated with the pin is adjusted by subtracting or adding the changein tide height. The entire depth chart in a defined region around thatdepth pin is adjusted.

In certain aspect, data received by the application server 120 or othercomputing device may be stored as records in a database. The data may bereceived from the devices 110 in a crowd-sourced manner and/or may bereceived from other sources of information, such as governmentrepositories, third-party data stores, and the like. For example,records may be created representing water information at particulartimes, wherein each record has an associated time stamp. Further, therecords may be compared to information received from an agency recordsuch as a government agency. A graphical map may then be created basedon the records in the database. For example, certain graphicalrepresentation may be associated with certain records to build a fullmap of a water-site and the surrounding area. A context map may beloaded to provide satellite imagery of a given area including thewater-site. However, the graphics representing water may be overlaid onthe satellite imagery or other background based upon the locationinformation in the records. As records are updated, the map may beupdated. As changes are recognized in the records for a given locationover time, graphics may be used to illustrate the change. For example,if a water level is increasing due to rainfall or tide, or the like, agradient may be displayed instead of a solid color. Other graphics maybe used to illustrate a dynamic map of a water-site. Alternatively, oradditionally, the dynamic map may include the display of markers orgraphical pins associated with the individual records in the database.As such, a map may be loaded or created for a given region and overlaidwith graphical pins representing each of the records in the databasewithin a given geolocation and/or time period.

The application server 120 may use data received by the plurality ofnavigation devices 110 to create dynamic heat maps of, for example,fishing activity, water conditions, wildlife sightings, invasivewildlife sightings, and/or boat traffic. As an example of such a heatmap, FIG. 3 illustrates example graphical models 301, 302, 303 and 304indicating increasing levels of probability of occurrence of aparticular observance for any particular heat map over separate periodsof time. For pin activities associated with fish caught and wildlifesightings, the time and location associated with the pin can be used tochart locations of fish and wildlife as a function of time, as displayedin FIG. 3.

As an example, if fishermen are catching largemouth bass on one side ofa lake, but not on the other side of the lake, the map that is generatedwill illustrate by means of color or rendering that one side of the lakeis “hotter” than the other for catching that particular type of fish. Asa further example, if python hunters see more pythons on one side of theeverglades compared to the other side, the heat map will display oneside of the everglades to have a higher density of pythons than theother side by way of color or rendering.

For pin activities associated with water conditions and boating traffic,the device 110 can display heat maps generated by the application server120. After a defined period of time, the pin is marked as deleted and adeletion entry is made in the database. The application server 120 mayobserve time and location information of device 110, recognizing whendevice moves from one body of water to another through an area of a mapidentified as land and correct the map accordingly to represent thatpath as being water. The information received from navigation devices110 of hikers and/or bikers may contribute, for example, to creation ofhiking and/or biking trails, in methods similar to the methods describedabove.

In certain aspects, the application server 120 may include or be incommunication with a database of the received information from thedevices 110. As an example, the records in the database may beassociated with pins (locations on the dynamic map). Such pins may berelated to water conditions, user/boat traffic, wildlife commissionofficers' locations, and the like. Certain records may have a time tolive, whereby the record is deleted from the database after apredetermined time period has expired. As an example, the applicationserver 120 can review the database on a period or continuous schedule tocheck for changes in the records and/or for certain types of records. Asan example, if the application server 120 locates the records (eg. Pin)with Type as Game Officer or Traffic Pin, the server 120 may mark therecord as deleted if it has already been 1 hour, for example, since itwas last create/modified. A corresponding log entry may also be made inthe database. As a further example, if the application server 120locates a record with Type as Water Conditions, it marks that record asdeleted if it has already been 2 hours, for instance, since it was lastcreated/modified. A corresponding log entry may also be made in thedatabase. Various record types and associated time periods for deletionmay be used.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4, which is a schematic illustration of asystem 200. System 200 may include a plurality of navigation devices 110and a plurality of merchant devices 230. Merchant devices may includecomputers, servers, mobile phones, PDAs, and/or a device capable ofestablishing connectivity with the internet.

Merchant device 230 may broadcast to a plurality of navigation devices110 with customized messages through the application server 120. Amessage may be an announcement, a coupon, a special offer and/or anyother communication that displays on the navigation device 110.Navigation device 110 may receive, display and store the Blast for a setperiod of time. Merchants may input data such as title, description,image, start time and end time for a message. The data inputted by themerchant is received by the server. The merchant account is checked forsufficient funds, and if there are sufficient funds, the amount of thenewly inputted message is deducted from the available funds in themerchant account. The data from the merchant announcement is enteredinto a data table with a start time associated with it. The serverchecks the table at set time intervals, say one minute for example. Ifany such announcement is found in the table, the server retrieves thebusiness information for the business associated with the announcement.The server then retrieves all of the users that have made the body ofwater their favorite or whose devices are currently geolocated on thebody of water. The announcement is then downloaded to the devices. Oncethe announcement is downloaded, the entry in the table is marked asinactive.

The application server 120 may display the number and location ofnavigation devices 110 based on the geolocation of device 110 on theapplication server 120 website such that merchant device 230 candetermine the number of devices on or near a particular body of water.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow diagram for an example method for dynamic mapgeneration relating to a water-site. At step 500, first water-siteinformation may be received from a first device. The first water-siteinformation may comprise a first time marker indicating a time the firstwater-site information was captured, a first location marker indicatinga location of the first device at the time the first water-siteinformation was captured, and a first water parameter associated withthe water-site.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow diagram for an example method for dynamic mapgeneration relating to a water-site. At step 500, first water-siteinformation may be received from the first device. The first water-siteinformation may comprise a first time marker indicating a time the firstwater-site information was captured, a first location marker indicatinga location for the first device at the time the first water-siteinformation was captured, and a first water parameter associated withthe water-site.

At step 502, second water-site information may be received from a seconddevice. The second water-site information may comprise a second timemarker indicating a time the second water-site information was captured,a second location marker indicating a location of the second device atthe time the second water-site information was captured, and a secondwater parameter associated with the water-site.

At step 504, a water depth model may be generated based on at least thefirst water-site information and the second water-site information. Thewater-depth model may be a collection of depth information relating tomultiple locations on a water-site. For example, the water-depth modelmay include database records indicating static depth and/or depth changeat or over a period of time. The water-depth model may be referenced ingenerating a graphical representation of the water-site, wherein thedepth may be indicated by a graphical element. For example, depth may beindicated by a map pin or by a different color or gradient.

At step 506, a dynamic map may be generated based at least on the waterdepth model, wherein the dynamic map indicates at least a water depth ofa portion of the water-site and a change in water depth over a timeperiod.

At step 508, an activity model may be generated indicating wildlifeactivity associated with the water-site, wherein generating the dynamicmap is based at least on the activity model and the dynamic mapindicates wildlife activity at a static time or over a time period, orboth. The wildlife activity may comprise animal schooling, fishspawning, bird and animal migrations, invasive wildlife intrusions, oranimal locations, or a combination thereof. An activity model mayinclude records of information relating to the presence orcharacteristics of wildlife at or near a water-site. The activity modelmay be relied upon in generating map pins or other graphicalrepresentation of the underlying data relating to the wildlife activity.

At step 510, a feature model may be generated indicating anenvironmental feature associated with the water-site, wherein generatingthe dynamic map is based at least on the feature model and the dynamicmap indicates one or more environmental features. The environmentalfeature may comprise submerged sand bars, shallow or un-navigable water,channels, hazardous areas, above water and underwater hazard areas,diving areas, choppy water, crowded areas where many boaters can befound, navigation buoys, or fallen structures or a combination thereof.A feature model may include records of information relating to thepresence or characteristics of features at or near a water-site. Thefeature model may be relied upon in generating maps or other graphicalrepresentation of the underlying data relating to the features.

At step 512, the dynamic map may be transmitted to a user deviceconfigured to display the dynamic map via a user interface. The dynamicmap may be periodically or continuously updated to illustrate changes inthe map over a period of time.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow diagram for an example method. At step 600,location and value points may be received from a plurality of devicessuch as navigation device 110 (FIG. 1). The value points may includetime stamps indicating the time the sending device was at the indicatedlocation. The received information may be received and viewed by one ormore merchants. In step 602, one or more of the merchants may prepare ablast to be sent to users (e.g., boaters) within a specific geolocationor range. In step 604, the blast may be delivered to the users for adetermined period of time. The blast may include the location of thebusiness on the lake, the name of the business, a photo or imageuploaded by the business, the blast itself, which will be anyinformation the vendor wants disseminated to the boaters or users nearthem, the time frame for which the blast is valid.

FIG. 7 depicts a general-purpose computer system that includes or isconfigured to access one or more computer-accessible media. In theillustrated aspect, a computing device 700 may include one or moreprocessors 710 a, 710 b and/or 710 n (which may be referred hereinsingularly as the processor 710 or in the plural as the processors 710)coupled to a system memory 720 via an input/output (I/O) interface 730.The computing device 700 may further include a network interface 740coupled to an I/O interface 730.

In various aspects, the computing device 700 may be a uniprocessorsystem including one processor 710 or a multiprocessor system includingseveral processors 710 (e.g., two, four, eight, or another suitablenumber). The processors 710 may be any suitable processors capable ofexecuting instructions. For example, in various aspects, theprocessor(s) 710 may be general-purpose or embedded processorsimplementing any of a variety of instruction set architectures (ISAs),such as the x86, PowerPC, SPARC, or MIPS ISAs, or any other suitableISA. In multiprocessor systems, each of the processors 710 may commonly,but not necessarily, implement the same ISA.

In some aspects, a graphics processing unit (“GPU”) 712 may participatein providing graphics rendering and/or physics processing capabilities.A GPU may, for example, include a highly parallelized processorarchitecture specialized for graphical computations. In some aspects,the processors 710 and the GPU 712 may be implemented as one or more ofthe same type of device.

The system memory 720 may be configured to store instructions and dataaccessible by the processor(s) 710. In various aspects, the systemmemory 720 may be implemented using any suitable memory technology, suchas static random access memory (“SRAM”), synchronous dynamic RAM(“SDRAM”), nonvolatile/Flash®-type memory, or any other type of memory.In the illustrated aspect, program instructions and data implementingone or more desired functions, such as those methods, techniques anddata described above, are shown stored within the system memory 720 ascode 725 and data 726.

In one aspect, the I/O interface 730 may be configured to coordinate I/Otraffic between the processor(s) 710, the system memory 720 and anyperipherals in the device, including a network interface 740 or otherperipheral interfaces. In some aspects, the I/O interface 730 mayperform any necessary protocol, timing or other data transformations toconvert data signals from one component (e.g., the system memory 720)into a format suitable for use by another component (e.g., the processor710). In some aspects, the I/O interface 730 may include support fordevices attached through various types of peripheral buses, such as avariant of the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus standard orthe Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard, for example. In some aspects,the function of the I/O interface 730 may be split into two or moreseparate components, such as a north bridge and a south bridge, forexample. Also, in some aspects some or all of the functionality of theI/O interface 730, such as an interface to the system memory 720, may beincorporated directly into the processor 710.

The network interface 740 may be configured to allow data to beexchanged between the computing device 700 and other device or devices760 attached to a network or networks 750, such as other computersystems or devices, for example. In various aspects, the networkinterface 740 may support communication via any suitable wired orwireless general data networks, such as types of Ethernet networks, forexample. Additionally, the network interface 740 may supportcommunication via telecommunications/telephony networks, such as analogvoice networks or digital fiber communications networks, via storagearea networks, such as Fibre Channel SANs (storage area networks), orvia any other suitable type of network and/or protocol.

In some aspects, the system memory 720 may be one aspect of acomputer-accessible medium configured to store program instructions anddata as described above for implementing aspects of the correspondingmethods and apparatus. However, in other aspects, program instructionsand/or data may be received, sent, or stored upon different types ofcomputer-accessible media. Generally speaking, a computer-accessiblemedium may include non-transitory storage media or memory media, such asmagnetic or optical media, e.g., disk or DVD/CD coupled to computingdevice the 700 via the I/O interface 730. A non-transitorycomputer-accessible storage medium may also include any volatile ornon-volatile media, such as RAM (e.g., SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, RDRAM, SRAM,etc.), ROM, etc., that may be included in some aspects of the computingdevice 700 as the system memory 720 or another type of memory. Further,a computer-accessible medium may include transmission media or signals,such as electrical, electromagnetic or digital signals, conveyed via acommunication medium, such as a network and/or a wireless link, such asthose that may be implemented via the network interface 740. Portions orall of multiple computing devices, such as those illustrated in FIG. 7,may be used to implement the described functionality in various aspects;for example, software components running on a variety of differentdevices and servers may collaborate to provide the functionality. Insome aspects, portions of the described functionality may be implementedusing storage devices, network devices or special-purpose computersystems, in addition to or instead of being implemented usinggeneral-purpose computer systems. The term “computing device,” as usedherein, refers to at least all these types of devices and is not limitedto these types of devices.

It should also be appreciated that the systems in the figures are merelyillustrative and that other implementations might be used. Additionally,it should be appreciated that the functionality disclosed herein mightbe implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of software andhardware. Other implementations should be apparent to those skilled inthe art. It should also be appreciated that a server, gateway, or othercomputing node may include any combination of hardware or software thatmay interact and perform the described types of functionality, includingwithout limitation desktop or other computers, database servers, networkstorage devices and other network devices, PDAs, tablets, cellphones,wireless phones, pagers, electronic organizers, Internet appliances, andvarious other consumer products that include appropriate communicationcapabilities. In addition, the functionality provided by the illustratedmodules may in some aspects be combined in fewer modules or distributedin additional modules. Similarly, in some aspects the functionality ofsome of the illustrated modules may not be provided and/or otheradditional functionality may be available.

Each of the operations, processes, methods, and algorithms described inthe preceding sections may be embodied in, and fully or partiallyautomated by, code modules executed by at least one computer or computerprocessors. The code modules may be stored on any type of non-transitorycomputer-readable medium or computer storage device, such as harddrives, solid state memory, optical disc, and/or the like. The processesand algorithms may be implemented partially or wholly inapplication-specific circuitry. The results of the disclosed processesand process steps may be stored, persistently or otherwise, in any typeof non-transitory computer storage such as, e.g., volatile ornon-volatile storage.

The various features and processes described above may be usedindependently of one another, or may be combined in various ways. Allpossible combinations and sub-combinations are intended to fall withinthe scope of this disclosure. In addition, certain method or processblocks may be omitted in some implementations. The methods and processesdescribed herein are also not limited to any particular sequence, andthe blocks or states relating thereto may be performed in othersequences that are appropriate. For example, described blocks or statesmay be performed in an order other than that specifically disclosed, ormultiple blocks or states may be combined in a single block or state.The exemplary blocks or states may be performed in serial, in parallel,or in some other manner. Blocks or states may be added to or removedfrom the disclosed example aspects. The exemplary systems and componentsdescribed herein may be configured differently than described. Forexample, elements may be added to, removed from, or rearranged comparedto the disclosed example aspects.

It will also be appreciated that various items are illustrated as beingstored in memory or on storage while being used, and that these items orportions of thereof may be transferred between memory and other storagedevices for purposes of memory management and data integrity.Alternatively, in other aspects some or all of the software modulesand/or systems may execute in memory on another device and communicatewith the illustrated computing systems via inter-computer communication.Furthermore, in some aspects, some or all of the systems and/or modulesmay be implemented or provided in other ways, such as at least partiallyin firmware and/or hardware, including, but not limited to, at least oneapplication-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), standard integratedcircuits, controllers (e.g., by executing appropriate instructions, andincluding microcontrollers and/or embedded controllers),field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), complex programmable logicdevices (CPLDs), etc. Some or all of the modules, systems and datastructures may also be stored (e.g., as software instructions orstructured data) on a computer-readable medium, such as a hard disk, amemory, a network, or a portable media article to be read by anappropriate drive or via an appropriate connection. The systems,modules, and data structures may also be transmitted as generated datasignals (e.g., as part of a carrier wave or other analog or digitalpropagated signal) on a variety of computer-readable transmission media,including wireless-based and wired/cable-based media, and may take avariety of forms (e.g., as part of a single or multiplexed analogsignal, or as multiple discrete digital packets or frames). Suchcomputer program products may also take other forms in other aspects.Accordingly, the disclosure may be practiced with other computer systemconfigurations.

Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “may,” “could,”“might,” “may,” “e.g.,” and the like, unless specifically statedotherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, isgenerally intended to convey that certain aspects include, while otheraspects do not include, certain features, elements, and/or steps. Thus,such conditional language is not generally intended to imply thatfeatures, elements, and/or steps are in any way required for at leastone aspects or that at least one aspects necessarily include logic fordeciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether thesefeatures, elements, and/or steps are included or are to be performed inany particular aspect. The terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,”and the like are synonymous and are used inclusively, in an open-endedfashion, and do not exclude additional elements, features, acts,operations, and so forth. Also, the term “or” is used in its inclusivesense (and not in its exclusive sense) so that when used, for example,to connect a list of elements, the term “or” means one, some, or all ofthe elements in the list.

While certain example aspects have been described, these aspects havebeen presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit thescope of aspects disclosed herein. Thus, nothing in the foregoingdescription is intended to imply that any particular feature,characteristic, step, module, or block is necessary or indispensable.Indeed, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodiedin a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions,substitutions, and changes in the form of the methods and systemsdescribed herein may be made without departing from the spirit ofaspects disclosed herein. The accompanying claims and their equivalentsare intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall withinthe scope and spirit of certain aspects disclosed herein.

The preceding detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and isnot intended to limit the disclosure or the application and uses of thedisclosure. The described aspects are not limited to use in conjunctionwith a particular type of machine. Hence, although the presentdisclosure, for convenience of explanation, depicts and describesparticular machine, it will be appreciated that the assembly andelectronic system in accordance with this disclosure may be implementedin various other configurations and may be used in other types ofmachines. Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any theorypresented in the preceding background or detailed description. It isalso understood that the illustrations may include exaggerateddimensions to better illustrate the referenced items shown, and are notconsider limiting unless expressly stated as such.

It will be appreciated that the foregoing description provides examplesof the disclosed system and technique. However, it is contemplated thatother implementations of the disclosure may differ in detail from theforegoing examples. All references to the disclosure or examples thereofare intended to reference the particular example being discussed at thatpoint and are not intended to imply any limitation as to the scope ofthe disclosure more generally. All language of distinction anddisparagement with respect to certain features is intended to indicate alack of preference for those features, but not to exclude such from thescope of the disclosure entirely unless otherwise indicated.

The disclosure may include communication channels that may be any typeof wired or wireless electronic communications network, such as, e.g., awired/wireless local area network (LAN), a wired/wireless personal areanetwork (PAN), a wired/wireless home area network (HAN), awired/wireless wide area network (WAN), a campus network, a metropolitannetwork, an enterprise private network, a virtual private network (VPN),an internetwork, a backbone network (BBN), a global area network (GAN),the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, an overlay network, a cellulartelephone network, a Personal Communications Service (PCS), using knownprotocols such as the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM),CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access), Long Term Evolution (LTE), W-CDMA(Wideband Code-Division Multiple Access), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi),Bluetooth, and/or the like, and/or a combination of two or more thereof.

Additionally, the various aspects of the disclosure may be implementedin a non-generic computer implementation. Moreover, the various aspectsof the disclosure set forth herein improve the functioning of the systemas is apparent from the disclosure hereof. Furthermore, the variousaspects of the disclosure involve computer hardware that it specificallyprogrammed to solve the complex problem addressed by the disclosure.Accordingly, the various aspects of the disclosure improve thefunctioning of the system overall in its specific implementation toperform the process set forth by the disclosure and as defined by theclaims.

Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as ashorthand method of referring individually to each separate valuefalling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and eachseparate value is incorporated into the specification as if it wereindividually recited herein. All methods described herein may beperformed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein orotherwise clearly contradicted by context.

1: A method for dynamic map generation relating to a water-site, themethod comprising: An application server configured to receive firstwater-site information from a first user-input device, the firstwater-site information comprising a first time marker indicating a timethe first water-site information was captured, a first location markerindicating a location of the first user input device at the time thefirst user inputted water-site information was captured, and a firstwater parameter associated with the water-site; receiving secondwater-site information from a second user input device, the secondwater-site information comprising a second time marker indicating a timethe second water-site information was captured, a second location markerindicating a location of the second device at the time the secondwater-site information was captured, and a second water parameterassociated with the water-site; generating a dynamic map based on atleast the water site information from the first and second user inputdevices; transmitting the dynamic map to the user input devices. 2.(canceled) 3: The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamic map indicatesan identifier associated with the geolocation information of the userinput device, comprising the time and coordinates of the user inputdevice. 4: The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamic map indicates anidentifier associated with a merchant location in proximity to the watersite with boat access. 5: The method of claim 1, wherein the applicationserver is configured to receive merchant inputted information from themerchant device to send an electronic message to the user input deviceswithin proximity to the merchant device. 6: The method of claim 1,wherein the user input device is configured to receive and display themerchant inputted information on the screen of the user input device. 7:A method for feature map generation relating to a water-site, the methodcomprising: receiving first water-site information from a first userobservation input device, the first water-site information comprising afirst time marker indicating a time the first water-site information wascaptured by a user, a first location marker indicating a location of thefirst device at the time the first water-site information was capturedby a user, and a first user inputted observation parameter associatedwith the water-site; receiving second water-site information from asecond user observation input device, the second water-site informationcomprising a second time marker indicating a time the second water-siteinformation was captured by a user, a second location marker indicatinga location of the second device at the time the second water-siteinformation was captured by a user, and a second user inputtedobservation parameter associated with the water-site; generating afeature map based on at least the first and second water-siteinformation indicating activity associated with the water-site, whereinthe feature map indicates all user observations, all user selectedobservations, user selected observations at a user selected time or userselected observations over a time period defined by the user, orcombination thereof; distributing the feature map to the first andsecond user observation input devices. 8: A method of claim 7, whereinuser observations comprise submerged or exposed water hazards, stumps,shallow water, water conditions, weather conditions, water-sideamenities, water-side merchants, water-side resources, parks, boatramps, boat docks, bathrooms, gas stations, restaurants, bars, trafficconditions, wildlife locations, navigable and non-navigable water,hazardous areas, diving areas, boating traffic, areas where otherboaters are congregating, navigation buoys, fallen structures, fishingareas, fish and wildlife management authority locations, or acombination thereof. 9: A method of claim 7, wherein the feature mapindicates an identifier associated with the geolocation information ofat least the first and second user observation input device, comprisingthe time and coordinates of the user observation input device. 10: Amethod of claim 7, further comprising transmitting the feature map to auser observation input device configured to display the feature map viaa user interface. 11: A method of claim 7, wherein the feature mapindicates the location of at least the first and second user observationinput device. 12: A method of claim 7, wherein the feature map indicatesan identifier associated with at least the first and second userobservation input device. 13: A system for map creation for bodies ofwater, the system comprising: an application server associated with aplurality of user observation input devices, wherein the applicationserver is configured: (a) to receive user observation input data fromsaid plurality of user observation input devices, the user observationdata including water-site information, time and location points; (b) togenerate a feature map for each, some or all user observation input datatypes; (c) to generate a dynamic map including one or more of thefeature maps; (d) to transmit the dynamic map to the user observationinput device. 14: A system according to claim 13, wherein saidapplication server is further configured to continuously update thedynamic map. 15: A system according to claim 13, wherein one or more ofthe plurality of user observation input devices is configured to receiveand display the dynamic map created by the application server.